Zakuro Fujiwara
藤原ざくろ, Zakuro Fujiwara (Renée Roberts in the 4Kids dub) is a character in the manga and anime series Tokyo Mew Mew, and one of the main heroines of the story. She is the fifth of the Mew Mews to be introduced and her DNA is merged with a Grey Wolf. Profile Tokyo Mew Mew *Birth Date: September 6 *Age: 14-15 *School: Unknown *School Grade: Ninth (3rd year middle school student by Japanese school standards) *Zodiac: Virgo *Blood Type: A *Affiliations: Project Mew Mew, the Mew Mews, Café Mew Mew, and a modelling company. Plot Zakuro's Childhood Zakuro went to a prestigious school and was fully educated (she speaks English, Spanish, French, German, Chinese and Japanese in Tokyo Mew Mew). Much of her past is not mentioned in the manga, but is shown more in the anime, and it was mentioned in one episode, that she used to live in America, as she left 'home' two years before the series actually started. In Tokyo Mew Mew, someone close to Renée died shown in a flashback. She had to do everything for herself when her parents were busy. This could also hint the reason she has an antisocial type of personality. She is also a Christian. Tokyo Mew Mew Zakuro is the fifth Mew Mew to be introduced. She is the most solitary of the group and declines their invitation to join when they first meet her. Thanks to Kish's mischievous interventions, though, Mew Ichigo saves Zakuro and calls her a friend. After that, even though she "doesn't like friends", Zakuro joins the group. As with the others, she first appears at the endangered animal exhibit without being named. Zakuro is the mature, older sister-like figure of the group, offering advice when required and often appearing to save the younger girls just in the nick of time. She forces Mint to realize that she has something to protect at one point. However, Zakuro is not perfect. At one point, when it was rumored that she was leaving Japan. Zakuro grew angry with the others for believing the rumor and acted as if she were leaving. She and Mew Mint ended up getting into a fight over it, but it came to a halt when Mew Ichigo yelled at Mew Zakuro for taking the ruse too far. In her normal life, Zakuro is a famous model and actress. She can speak many languages and is idolized by many young girls, including Corina. Zakuro was left alone a lot as a child, and she lost someone very close to her at a young age. She visits the church at times when she is confused or anxious. Personality Zakuro tends to be a loner and initially refuses to join the other Mew Mews, but changes her mind after they come to her aid. She is presented as a mature character. She likes the Internet. Her favourite food is sushi and her favourite drink is milk. However, she dislikes the Japanese food natto, which is fermented soybeans. To Mint, she is an idol, Ichigo finds her as a big sister figure and thinks she stands out at parties and acts calm and cool in dire situations. To Pudding, she is just normal and does not stand out in the crowd. Appearance Zakuro is a professional model and, as her biggest fan Mint effuses, she has "long, glossy, raven hair" with "dark, intelligent, yet sensitive eyes" and "long, strong and thin legs." Civillian Zakuro's hair is dark purple and her eyes are dark blue. When they meet, she is always wearing a silver cross necklace. Tokyo Mew Mew Zakuro wears a purple midriff top and short-shorts, with purple arm and left leg garters plus a purple wrist band and choker. She wears purple knee high boots. On her choker and arm and leg garters, there is pink lace lining. She gains wolf ears and a tail. Her Mew Mark is two wolves around her navel. Cafe Mew Mew She wears the same waitress uniform like Ichigo, Mint, Lettuce, and Pudding, with the exception of it being purple. Powers Transformation Zakuro initiates her transformation by kissing her pendant and shouting out her rank. As the transformation begins, she cradles the Mew pendant in her hands, gazing at it while her DNA begins to morph. Zakuro then lifts her hands into the air and a large sphere of flame appears. She twirls herself upward into the fire and her Mew uniform fades onto her body, animal appendages and all. Zakuro's body remains idle in the air with her arms still lifted and her body gracefully arched until the fire lashes out and explodes with a rose-shaped flame left behind her. The rose extinguishes as Renée leaps out of her position and lunges forward with a piercing glare. The transformation sequence is concluded with a final somersault into the night sky. She descends upon the ground with a crescent moon and a purple rosebush surrounding her as she strikes her final pose. Weapons & Attacks In her Mew form, Zakuro wears the color purple and gets Gray Wolf ears and tail. Her weapon is a whip, which is shaped like a cross in the original. In the dub, the cross is removed due to religious references. Her weapon in the original manga was unnamed but was called Zakuro Whip in episode 26 of the anime. Her attack is called Ribbon Zakuro Spear (mistranslated as Ribbon Zakuro's Pure) for several reasons. The word "pure" is simply represented in katakana 'pu-re' or even 'pu-ru' and is made up of 2 sounds in Japanese. It wouldn't occur to Japanese writers to make it "Zakuro's" because that is not how you designate possession in Japanese grammar. On the other hand, "spear" is more difficult to write phonetically in Japanese, as there is no "sp" sound. Instead it would have to be "su" the "pear" sound which is created because of this, so it makes the most sense that it is actually Ribbon Zakuro Spear. Her weapon in the 4Kids dub is called the Purple Dagger and her attack is unnamed. It has been proven that she is just as strong as Ichigo, as she is able to defeat Chimera Anima independently without the assistance of the other Mews or Ichigo's StrawBell Bell. Gallery 128068-zakuro picture 10.jpg|Zakuro as a grey wolf. Zakuro & Minto.jpg|Zakuro with Mint Attractive Zakuro.jpg|Charming Zakuro Zakuro Reads.jpg|Zakuro reading a book Zakuro Falls in Love.png|Zakuro is in love Zakuro Full Dress.jpg|Zakuro's full dress Renee Roberts (Zakuro's Grin).png|Zakuro's grin Zakuro (Camera Photo).jpg|Zakuro described Zakuro's Clothing (06).jpg Zakuro (Mew Mew).jpg Zakuro (Ep. 24).jpg|Zakuro is in trouble Zakuro's Clothing (03).jpg Zakuro's Clothing (01).jpg Zakuro's Clothing (05).jpg Zakuro's Clothing (02).jpg Zakuro's Clothing (04).jpg Trivia * In the Mew Mew Power dub, the name Renée Roberts may refer to the late English actress Renée Roberts (1908-1996), best remembered for her role as Miss Ursula Gatsby in Fawlty Towers. * In the Mew Mew Power dub, Renée's cross weapon was censored due to religious references. Also, in some episodes, the necklace she wears was censored since it is a shape of a cross (the cross on top of churches was censored as well). * It remains unknown if she ever has any love interests at all; she completely ignores all the men crushing on her after seeing her in a bikini in the beach episode. However, despite her being an actress, she shows no interest in guys and she has never spoken of going on any dates whatsoever. * Due to her personality and childhood, Zakuro may be considered to be a tragic character. * Despite her cold and antisocial personality, so to speak, she shows signs of emotions as she maintains her good side as well as her humanity as a whole. * She is one of the few characters within the series with a much darker personality (the others being Pie and Deep Blue). * Zakuro's background is more developed in the anime adaptation (no back story is verified within the manga adaptation) and she is said to be estranged from her family since leaving home two years earlier. * Her dub name Renée Roberts was the name of a (now deceased) British actress. So that she would not be mistaken for her, this was most likely the reason the French dub of Mew Mew Power changed Renée's name to Estelle. * The Grey Wolf is currently not endangered. * Zakuro's dub name Renée means 'reborn'. Coincidentally or not, some translators made the mistake of translating the first word in the Mew Mew's attacks to Reborn instead of Ribbon. * Zakuro's Japanese name in the Kodansha translation of the manga is spelled Zacro (which is an official alternate spelling to the Japanese writing that spells her name) so that the pun in her attack name, "Ribbon Zacros Pure", make more sense. They also imply that she is not fully Japanese. * In episode 44 it is revealed that Zakuro is extremely terrified of bugs, when her wolf-tail is all fluffed up, after being chased by huge insects, in Tokyo's streets. 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